Books and matters medical

I have been rather busy over the last few days because my OH has just had an operation - a Nissen Fundoplication. Do not Google it if you are squeamish! It's a cure for acid reflux basically but the after effects are probably more than most of us would care to experience. He has to be on a virtually completely liquid diet for the next couple of months though he can manage things like rice pudding if he eats small amounts - and I mean small - less than a dessert spoonful at a time.

Eventually he will be able to eat a more normal diet but may never be able to eat bread again. He has done well so far as he had the operation last Saturday and came out on Monday. He was expected to stay in about 5 days because of his serious lung problems and his diabetes but is recovering much better than was expected.

Books

Trollope by Victoria Glendinning - a comprehensive biography of the author which makes many references to his books and really brought the man to life for me.

Here Come the Girls by Milly Johnson - an enjoyable romp of a book which was a very welcome read at the weekend. Four friends go on a cruise. It changes all their lives - for the better.

Gently Through the Mill by Alan Hunter - the fifth book in the Gently series. 1950s crime in a flour mill with Gently involved because the body is that of a petty London villain.

Ellie Andrews has Second Thoughts by Ruth Sabberton - Again an enjoyable light read with Ellie reminiscing on her wedding day. The reader does not know exactly who she is marrying or whether the marriage will go ahead until the last few pages.

Current Reading

Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey - the classic novel about Richard III. Still good even when you know some of the text off by heart!

The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy - I'm still reading this in small chunks which you might think would cause a problem trying to remember what has gone on. I must have read the books many times back in the 1970s because I'm finding I have no problem recalling the story line.

The Perfect Hero by Victoria Connelly - Kay moves to Lyme Regis and opens a B&B. Her first guests are some of the actors involved in a new film production of Jane Austen's Persuasion.

Angel with Two Faces

I finished reading Nicola Upson's Angel with Two Faces featuring Josephine Tey as an amateur sleuth working with her friend - Scotland Yard detective Archie Penrose. Set in the 1930s, it is a convoluted tale of family relationships and secrets from the past which threaten to derail the present. It was a good story and well written and I like Josephine Tey in this incarnation. What I thought didn't come over too well was the 1930s atmosphere. It just didn't gel to me and I kept thinking any moment someone was going to pick up a mobile phone! I don't think the swear words fitted with the period either.

That said, I did enjoy it. The characters are well drawn and the dialogue believable. One of the best scenes was a recreation of 'The Jackdaw of Rheims' at the open air theatre at Minack. Very atmospheric to the extent I felt I really was there watching it as I was reading. At 422 pages it could perhaps have done with a ruthless editor as it was a little too long. 370pages might have been a better length.

Another book in progress is Richard T Kelly's Crusaders about the North East of England and a clergyman setting up - or 'planting'- a new Anglican church. This is a book for the long term and I'm reading about 30 pages a day. It's good - I've reached page 200 - but again could have done with a more ruthless editor.